Ruin
by azazemon
Summary: The recent invasion of Pein left Konoha unprepared for a new threat in the form of Dark Lord Neosis, Akatsuki's new allies who also have a sinister plan involving the young Uchiha. pairings inside
1. Vison the Shadow Ghoul

A crescent moon loomed over the sub-remains of Konoha. A lone guard patrolled a section of the gate. His shift was almost done, but he remained vigilant. Ever since Pein attacked Konoha, everyone has been on high alert to ensure they aren't taken by surprise like that again. Despite his motivation to keep his village safe, he was feeling just a tad sleepy. As he continued his patrol he felt an unholy shiver creep up his spine and turned around, kunai bared. There was nothing there, but he could not shake the feeling someone was watching him. He turned around and started to head back to change shifts when he saw something that made his skin three shades lighter. A pair of white eyes, glaring at him from the shadows. Without hesitation he threw a few shuriken in the darkness and heard them hit the wall. He blinked, and the eyes were gone. As he walked past that spot he heard a small chuckle and almost wet himself. He quickly lit a flare and threw it in the direction of the chuckle charged with his kunai raised. He stopped when he saw the flare illuminated nothing but a wall. He bent down to retrieve the flare, but it went out. As he looked back up he was face to face with the pair of white eyes he saw earlier. Before he could utter a sound it shoved a sword, black as the shadows it emerged from, through his neck, killing him instantly. The figure then dragged him into the shadows, leaving a small patch of blood to stain the ground.

Neji was out for a midnight stroll that night, taking in everything that happened so far.

_"Never thought I'd see the day when someone like Pein would do something like this..."_ he thought looking at the destroyed houses and buildings.

He stood still for a moment, he felt eyes on him. He activated his Byakugan and looked around.

_"There!"_ he thought throwing shuriken at the shape watching him from the shadows. It vanished, almost instantly, reappearing moments later in another spot farther away.

_"Teleportation? Through the shadows? Now I've seen everything!" _he thought concentrating on his new enemy who kept disappearing and reappearing in different places.

It finally stopped in front of him and the figure stepped from the shadows. Aside from his eyes he was pitch black, a shdowy silhouette of a man with a wearing a hood.

"Who are you?" Neji demanded.

"No one you should concern yourself with Ninja." It answered back.

"Well what are you doing in our village?"

"Nothing you should concern yourself with Ninja."

"You can either answer my question or I can take you to Ebisu and you can talk to him." Neji warned.

It laughed at this,"You think you can take me down? I am the shadow of this world, the thing you Ninja aspire to be boy. But if you feel the need for me to prove this-" It ran into the nearest shadow and vanished.

Neji jumped back just as a shadowy spear streaked past him. It suddenly jumped from his shadow and began to slowly drag him into it.

"You will be my next victim." It sneered.

At that moment they both stopped, and Neji was suddenly tossed to the side. He looked up to see Shikamaru, Hinata and Kakashi.

"Looks like we arrived just in time." Kakashi said revealing his sharingan.

"Looks like you have." It said disappearing once more into the shadows.

"Neji! Hinata! Can you see him?" Kakashi asked looking around as well.

"He can move through the shadows like teleportation to point where he was able to leap out of my own." Neji informed them.

"How's that even possible? I've never heard of any ninja, or person for that matter, capable of something like that." Shikamaru said.

"It's because he's not human." Kakashi said.

"Then what is he? A ghost?" Hinata asked.

"No, he's-"

"Right here!" It said charging at shikamaru with another spear in his hand. Shikamaru leapt out the way and used his own shadow to hold it still.

"Good to know that still works." He smirked.

"Fool! I _am _the shadow." It said falling through the shadow and appearing at a different spot.

"Let me show you true shadow manipulation!" It said raising its hands in the air. The shadows around them began to grow larger and as it moved towards them if consumed the houses and rubble in its path.

"This is bad." Neji said.

"Clear the area!" Kakashi said jumping up, the other three followed. As they jumped blacked tentacles emerged from the shadows and grabbed at their ankles.

"No one escapes the darkness!"

There was a sudden flash of light and the entire area was illuminated.

"Gah! What's doing that!" It yelled covering its eyes.

They all heard the sound of a gun, and looked towards the source.

It was a girl, no older looking than 17 with short, brown hair and azure eyes holding a pistol. She wore a sleeveless, black hoodie and dark blue pants with black tennis shoes. On her back was a red katana with pink flowers on it.

"End of the line Vison!" she yelled.

"You bitch!" Vison yelled in anger,"I will personally see to your demise at _my _hands!"

"You've got to get your hands on me first." She smiled.

Vison ran into the nearest shadow and vanished.

"Not on my watch!" she said taking out a small silver ball. She threw it into the air and shot it, illuminating the area again. Vison was thrown from her shadow, covering his eyes. She aimed her pistol and shot him in the face. He fell to the ground but quickly got back up, a piece of his head however was now missing.

"You can't kill me Trish, that status has already been fulfilled." Vison laughed walking up to her.

"Never said I was here to kill you, but I did succeed in another goal." Trish smiled.

"Oh?"

"There's now a numeranian fragment in your skull, and Sera's not far behind you." Trish said pointing.

Vison turned to see another woman with shoulder length black hair and silver eyes pointing a staff with a three foot blade attached to it at him. She reached out with her hand and quickly closed her fist. The fragment in Vison's skull lit up causing him to fall to the ground screaming in pain until he went silent, twitching every so often.

"Wow, can't believe how easy he was this time." Trish smiled walking up to him.

"Well we had some help." Sera said pointing at the dumbfounded ninja.

They were both suddenly surrounded by every other able-bodied ninja in the village.

"Oh crap..." Trish said looking around.

"I'm Tsunade, the leader of this village and I demand to know just what the hell is going on here?" Tsunade demanded stepping forward.

"Hokage, my apologies for infiltrating your village in its current state, but we needed to capture this wraith before he achieved whatever goal his master sent him on." Sera said with a polite bow.

"Wraith?" Everyone asked at once.

"Yes, this is a wraith, the soul of a fallen warrior reawakened and enslaved to do its master's bidding." Sera said pointing at Vison.

"The way to took him down suggests otherwise." Kakashi said.

"We had to do some research before we set out on this little mission. Turns out for a shadow ghouls such as eternal darkness over there their essence can be neutralized by a well placed numeranian stone fragment." Trish said happily.

"Numeranian stone fragment?" Tsunade asked with a raised eyebrow.

"They were an ancient tribe full of shamans who would sometimes commune with or even control those who passed away. They were all wiped out about a century ago. We only recently found their ruins and began an investigation as to what exactly wiped them out." Sera answered.

"Who are you two?"

"My name is Sera Morrison, and this is my sister Trish Morrison. We're...I guess you can call us freelancers. Either way, we found out through a reliable source that Vison was on his way here. We don't know what's here that he wants, but there's something from him that we want." Sera said.

"If this thing's a ghost, then how did you shoot off a piece of it's face?" Shikamaru asked.

"I was able to convince someone to make bullets out of some of the numeranian stones we found incase we had trouble taking him down." Trish answered.

"Undead can't really be killed by normal means. Since they're already dead, the most you can do is banish them back into slumber. The numeranian stones disrupt the essence of a spirit's essence, tricking it back into a temporary slumber." Sera added.

"Slumber? So he's asleep?"

"Yes, whenever someone dies, their spirit merely goes to sleep. A necromancer or other dark magic user can reawaken a soul under their possession. Vison is a shadow ghoul, a slain spirit brought back from slumber. His type are filled with malice and anger for losing their lives by the hand of another, and take their anger out on whatever living creature they encounter. It's obvious from how selective he is of who he kills that he's being controlled, and we want to find out who and why."

"Well you're in luck, Ebisu's interrogation chair is open." Tsunade said pointing at a smiling Ebisu.

"Sweetness, let's get this over with." Trish said excitedly.

"...How exactly do you interrogate a ghost?" Kakashi asked.


	2. Dead Ends

They took Vison up to the interrogation room.

"I'll need to make a binding seal to keep him from moving but I'll need to draw it on the floor. May I?" Sera asked politely.

"You know more about this person than we do Sera, go ahead." Ebisu responded.

She drew a circle, then drew four symbols at the top, bottom, left and right of the circle. She clasped her hands together and muttered a few phrases. The symbols lit up, making a low, humming noise.

Trish grabbed a chair and set it in the middle of the glowing seal. Kakashi sat Vison on the chair and backed away.

As Sera removed the glowing fragment from Vison's skull strands of white rope jumped from out the left and top symbol, wrapped themselves around Vison, and went into the right and bottom symbol. Vison quickly regained consciosness and began to struggle pointlessly against his bindings.

"Unhand me wench!" He demanded angrily.

"Yeah that's not happening in the near future." Trish smiled.

"Who is it?" Sera asked pulling out a clear crystal.

"What?" Vison asked confused.

"Don't play stupid with me Vison! Who summoned you? What are you doing here?" Sera demanded sternly.

"That is none of your concern mortal!" Vison retorted angrily.

"Fine..." Sera said casually. She held the crystal in front of her and everyone watched in awe as it lit up the room.

The light from the crystal began to purn Vison, turning parts of him white as he screamed in pain.

Sera lowered the stone and the light faded,"I suggest you drop your ghostly high-and-mighty act and cooperate before I make you regret it."

"What did that crystal do?" Kakashi asked Trish.

"It purifies and destroys evil spirits."

"Please...I...I am bound by his summoning not to reveal his identity." Vison pleaded.

Sera sighed,"Damn...smart move; this will make everything else difficult."

"Howso?" Ebisu asked.

"No matter what we do, he's literally unable to tell us who summoned him. At this point there's no reason to interrogate him further." Sera said.

"So what's next?"

Sere held up the crystal again. Vison screamed in agony as he turned completely white before disintegrating.

"So just like that? He's gone?" Neji asked.

"Yep...may his soul find peace." Sera said putting the crystal way.

"Well, I guess we should cram." Trish said heading for the door before Tsunade moved in front of it.

"You two aren't going anywhere until I know _exactly _what you're here for."

"Listen Lady we've already told you that we were here for him. Why don't you tell us what's in this village that a necromancer would want?" Trish retorted.

"Trish, stop it; this is getting us nowhere. We're from Evernil, a city built out in the ocean and away from modern civilization. We're hunting a necromancer responsible for a significant number of deaths that occured within the city before he escaped. I was hoping the spirit he reawakened would lead us to him, but I guess we're back at square one now." Sera said sadly.

"Evernil? I've never heard of this city." Ebisu said.

"Like I said, the city is built far out into the ocean and away from civilization. It's law that the city should never interact with the world after an incident that happened centuries ago, but this was a special case."

"So your superiors don't mind you telling me any of this?" Tsunade asked.

"Our 'superiors' can go deepthroat a nutsack." Trish said angrily.

"We're not on good terms with the person who sent us. He would prefer that you all be left in the dark and I keep my mouth shut, but I'm never one for rules. It's better to tell you now rather than wait and see if our suspicions are correct. With that being said we-"

The sound of a phone ringin came from Trish's pocket, who acted oblivious to the ringing until everyone stared at her.

"I'm not answering this." She said tossing the phone to Sera.

Sera rolled her eyes and answered it,"Yes? No, it was a dead end, he was bound not to reveal his summoner so I was forced to purify him. Well I'm not going to just leave him as he is while still under the control of an unknown and possibly dangerous necromancer! (Sigh) Goddammit fine, we'll wait here. Yes they know. Well I didn't have a choice he pretty much attacked the village and I don't think they're willing to just let a creature like him go unnoticed. Okay okay okay I get the picture bye!"

She hung up the phone and gripped it tightly in her hand.

"So what did Captain Thundercunt want now?" Trish asked.

"Something happened near one of their outposts so we can either wait for them to come for us in about a day or two, or we can just leave now and hopefully make it to the coast."

"I wouldn't feel right just letting you two wander off at this hour. If they'll be here in a couple of days then you're both welcome to stay here." Tsunade said rubbing her forehead.

"After all the trouble we've caused I thankful for your generosity Hokage." Sera said with a polite bow.

"Were it not for you two Vison would've probably killed three if not four of my shinobi, so consider this repayment."

"Talk about convienient..." Trish muttered.

"Come on, I'll show you to your room." Sakura offered.

They walked to an apartment where the landlord gave them both a key. Sakura led them both to a two bedroom suite, and offered to take them to the Ramen shope in the morning. They agreed and wished her goodnight. After Sakura left Trish happily jumped into bed.

"I'm going to sleep, goodnight." She said happily burying her face in her pillow.

Sera sighed,"I'm gonna go for a walk, be right back."

"M'kay, don't stay up too late I'd like to get ramen first thing in the morning."

Sera smiled and walked out the door. She walked out to a balcony, pulled out the crystal and stared at it for awhile.

"Having trouble sleeping?" came a voice.

She turned to see Naruto walk up in his pajamas.

"Sorry, I'm Naruto Uzumaki." He said holding out his hand.

"Sera Morrison," she said shaking his hand,"And yes, I guess you could say that."

"Well my ears are open." Naruto said with a smile.

"It's just been another dead end in finding out what Barador was after."

"Who's Barador? I thought the shadow-thing's name was Vison?" Naruto asked.

"He's the necromancer who summoned him."

"So why did you ask Vison who sent him if you already knew?"

"If he could tell me who summoned him then he could tell me what he was after. I should've known Barador would've thought this through and provided a failsafe if the worst should happen. Still, the fact that he came after something in a half destroyed ninja-village throws me off my guessing game."

"He could've been after me."

"Why?"

"Because I have the kyuubi sealed within me."

Sera cautiously stepped back,"Explain..."

"I'm not possessed or anything!" Naruto said quickly,"It was just sealed inside me, look." he added pulling up his shirt.

"Whoa...I've never seen a seal like this before..." Sera said running her fingers down his stomach, causing him to blush,"How much power did it take to seal it?"

"The lives of both my parents..."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

"It's ok, I've had time to deal with it." Naruto smiled.

"No need to smile, I can tell it's fake." Sera said sternly.

"What do you mean it's fake?" Naruto demanded.

"You smile to mask whatever's hurting you at the moment; like a mask. It's something I see too often in my life. It's alright, I do it too sometimes, when I don't want to continue the current topic." Sera smiled.

"So is that a genuine smile or a fake?" Naruto asked.

"You decide."

Naruto shook his head,"Your sister seems alittle-"

"Bitchy?"

"I wouldn't exactly say-"

"It's alright, she's bitchy. It's her way of proving she's not girly or prissy; her way of being seen as a person and not an object."

"Are you talking about me out there?" Trish's voice rang through the apartment.

"No! Go back to sleep!" Sera lied.

"You know I can tell when you lie right?" Trish yelled back.

"Trish go to sleep I'm talking to a guy!" Sera yelled in aggravation.

"OH! Nevermind then! Play nice you two!"

Sera sighed,"She can really make an awkward moment can't she..."

"So how old are you?" Naruto asked.

Sera raised her eyebrow,"Why would you want to know that?"

"I was just...you know cause...umm...do your parents know you're doing this?" Naruto asked attempting to change the subject.

"Well, my parents died when me and Trish were 3, about 13 years ago, so that would make me 16." Sera said.

"Oh, so you're as old as me then." Naruto said rubbing his chin.

"Is this how you flirt with girls you age?" Sera asked turning to face him.

"No! I mean I don't really flirt I...I'm pretty tired; think I'll go to bed now." Naruto said with fake yawn but blushing still.

"Okay, I'll let you go this time; but we're not through yet Naruto Uzumaki." Sera said walking back to her room.

She closed the door and turned to face Trish,"Don't even start."

"Oh come on! You stood out there talking to the strangely attractive but dense blonde...which pretty much explains his denseness...and walk back into the room with a smile? Spill it!" Trish demanded folding her arms.

"It's nothing, we were just talking. He's a funny guy." Sera assured her.

"Oh that's how it starts,'He's a funny guy!', then,'We're gonna go see a movie together,' until finally,'That was the best sex ever!'," Trish said rolling on her bed in laughter.

Sera angrily lifted her hands and made a clockwise windmill motion. Trish's blankets suddenly rose around her and pinned her to the bed.

"Sleep tight, I'll see you in the morning." Sera said satisfied.


End file.
